Microsoft’s gaming brand Xbox is at the center of discussions about its position in the industry. There are serious criticisms that the company has lost its identity as a console manufacturer and is following a directionless strategy. Mike Ybarra, who served as an executive at Xbox for many years and is also the former president of Blizzard, described the company’s current situation as a “collapse phase” in a statement he made on social media.
What will the future of Xbox be like?
Ybarra stated in a post he made on the official X account that he did not know what Xbox was or what it should be. Ybarra, who said that the company still had “wonderful people” within it, stated that the potential of these people could not be activated unless a direction was determined.
He said that Xbox needed to make a decision as soon as possible and focus on a single path. Ybarra’s statements brought criticisms about the lack of a clear vision within the company regarding the future of the Xbox brand back to the agenda.
Similar views are also expressed by other former Xbox executives. Laura Fryer, a former employee of Microsoft Game Studios, said that Xbox’s role in hardware production has greatly diminished.
According to Fryer, Xbox no longer has the capacity to develop hardware and therefore is turning to collaborations with different technology companies. In this context, the portable console model Xbox ASUS ROG Ally X, which was released as a result of the partnership with ASUS, is considered an indicator that Microsoft is turning to outsourcing in hardware.
In addition, a specially designed Xbox VR experience was offered to users as a result of the partnership with Meta. Fryer argued that these initiatives could be controlled steps towards ending the company’s presence on the hardware side. He also openly expressed that he was not satisfied with the point he had reached as one of the founding names of the Xbox team.
Microsoft had shared the top three places in the game console competition with Sony and Nintendo for a long time. However, both the decline in hardware sales and the company’s focus on digital services and platforms in the recent period caused Xbox to move away from its traditional identity. Partnerships with companies such as ASUS and Meta reinforce the comments that the company is withdrawing from direct hardware production.
In light of the information reflected to the public, it is seen that Xbox has strayed from its hardware development mission, there is no clarity in its internal decision-making processes, and it has received serious criticism even from former executives about the future of the brand. Xbox management, however, remains silent against this criticism for now.
